The Bush League and The Michael Clark Band Light Up the Capital Ale House in Richmond, VA

It was a Friday night, the first night in about three weeks that my wife and I had felt even anywhere near well enough to venture past our front door. When we left the house, Denise and I had agreed that we wouldn't push it and probably would turn in a little early. I was feeling well, but Denise was marginal as we headed to the Brews and Blues function at the Capital Ale House. This is a weekly event sponsored by the River City Blues Society and features great local and live blues. This night it was The Bush League and, having heard them a couple times before, they did not disappoint. With Gwen Frederick (drums) and Royce Folks (bass) holding a strong and steady line on the back end, it allows John Jay (vocals) and Shane Parch (guitar) to play to their hearts' content. There were joined by a few guest musicians, especially Geo Jacopec on guitar. When he takes the stage with anybody, you know something special is going to happen. It has been three times now that I have been floored by his playing. Tonight he and Shane hit it off perfectly, the clean notes of Geo alongside the beer bottle slide playing of Shane were ear candy to me. There were two harmonica players that sat in, Pete Turpin (a.k.a. "The Kid) from Lynchburg, Va possessed an incredible stage presence that married well with John Jay and is a very good player, and Royce's brother Andrew Alli, who had only been playing for 6 months or so, was more than competent and held his own with the other talented players on the stage. I will post their names as soon as I know who they were simply because I definitely want to catch them again. The song "Heaven" is a show stopper on this night, just as it was when I saw it performed at the now-closed JM Randalls in Williamsburg just last month.

They closed their set and there was a break as The Michael Clark Band set the stage. It was great to catch up and talk with the band members and some other friends that were in attendance. Denise and I, having recently started delving into the swing/blues dance scene, were more than happy to see a group of local dancers in attendance and performing their moves with grace and a good bit of pep in their step. They brought us up to speed on the latest goings-on in the Richmond/Charlottesville/Va Beach area. You can visit the Facebook page for RASS and the Usual Lindy Suspects for much of the scoop on an ongoing basis. We definitely plan to spend more time around this group, learning some additional moves along with our continued classes with Wendy Craighill and the group at Lindy101.org in Williamsburg, Va. They hold lessons and dances in the Williamsburg Community Building every Thursday evening.

Back to the show...Having never experienced the Michael Clark Band, I noticed a set of keyboards being loaded onto the stage and a sax player warming up behind it. Then my ear caught the sound of a trombone, along with the sax in the background and I thought we may in for something really good, but I had no idea how good this group would actually be. What a sound! After opening with some quiet, jazz-influenced picking by Michael Clark, he motioned and the horn section was called into play, and play they did. Both of these guys, Roy Brown (trombone) and Curtis Brown (saxophone), were very proficient and demonstrated mastery of their instruments with ease and grace while playing some of the hottest horn solos that I have heard since Trombone Shorty was in town. On the keys is John Wilkins, a small figured man that packs a big punch on the keyboards. We danced, at most times, in front of him and were able to enjoy the music that he was putting forth. Holding down the backbeat was Dave Hill (bass), who immediately caught my ear with some riffs that I have only heard from someone like Keith Horne and after speaking with him I know why (that's a story for another day). On the drums, they have Clayton Ives who stayed in the pocket and traded off some nice stuff with Dave on a couple of occasions. Heading up the group is Michael Clark (guitar) and Tracy Clark (vocals) and what a dynamic duo. Michael is a subdued, mild-mannered player that has musical sparks flying from him. Many times you will see him jump, twitch and flail. It is almost as if the music doesn't come out of him, then he will simply explode right there on stage. When that happens, and he lets it fly, it is magical and if you close your eyes, you can ride right along with him. Tracy also has the same feel, a great vocalist that exudes a calming sense of control and grace that is extraordinary.  They played a long first set of a mixture of blues, funk, and soul classics along with at least one original tune which was quite good, "The Happy Song" I think she called it. The house was absolutely lit up when they broke out into their rendition of Prince's "Kiss", with most of the folks dancing up front, in the aisle and their seats. There were several songs that ended with a standing ovation from the entire audience, something you don't often witness in this type of setting and venue, but it was earned and well deserved. The second set brought more of the same as there was much audience participation and singing along to the familiar tunes. Then we were blown away by the scatting of the sax player, Curtis Brown. Both horn players were singing backup, but I had pointed out to my wife the vocal range of Curtis and when he broke out into this scat solo, it was simply jaw-dropping. Tracy had hinted at it is their secret weapon and it was just that!

Having agreed to call it an early night, we had to agree later that it would be a late one. Once again staying to the end, afraid to leave and miss something special. If we would have left then we would have missed out. We were happy to end this night a little tired, but feeling otherwise wonderful. Music has a healing influence and it was just the medicine we needed on this night.

It is absolutely incredible to be able to go out and see bands of this caliber on a regular basis in the great city of Richmond and places like the Capital Ale House...Many thanks to all!